IUCN promotes pedal power

A new public bike rental system – the biggest of its kind in Switzerland – opens today, 15 June, in the Swiss canton of Vaud, thanks to a public-private partnership involving IUCN.

Eleven bike stations have been installed in the towns of Nyon, Changins, Gland and Prangins in Lake Geneva region (La Côte). With 111 bikes, including more than 50 electrically-powered ones, this is the largest network of its kind in Switzerland.

Bikes can be hired for a small fee using a magnetic card 24 hours a day and seven days a week, and returned to any bike-sharing station that is part of the network. One of them has been placed outside the IUCN Conservation Centre in Gland, which is home to IUCN Headquarters.

The system offers an ecological and healthy means of transportation to IUCN staff, local residents and tourists. Its development has been possible thanks to a public-private partnership which involves IUCN, the communes of Nyon, Gland and Prangins, a number of businesses based in the region, as well as other conservation organizations hosted in the IUCN Conservation Centre: the MAVA Foundation, the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA) and the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands.

Christian Laufenberg, Head of IUCN’s General Services explains how the system works and why IUCN has been involved in its development:

This latest development is part of a larger bike sharing network called Vélopass, which is already in place in the region. Further expansion of the network is planned for 2012.